Toshiba, sent packing earlier this year in its battle against Blu-ray, is back again with what one might consider a low-budget HD competitor. The technology is called XDE and the first product out with it is the Toshiba XD-E500, a DVD player priced around $150.

XDE, also known as “eXtended Detail Enhancement,” is reportedly DVD upconversion on steroids. Toshiba says of it that “in addition to providing upconversion from 480i/p up to 1080p, XDE offers user selectable picture enhancement modes that allow for greater detail, more vivid colors and stronger contrast that bring standard DVD quality closer to the HD experience.” Three selectable picture mode settings - sharp, color, contrast - lets one bring closer to “true HD quality” their DVD viewing experience.

Best Buy has made an announcement that it truly does feel bad for all of those that bit the bullet and made a decision in the high-def video format war, before it was over. People wanting high-definition video last year and early this year had a tough time making a decision between Toshiba’s HD DVD and the Blu-ray formats, and some chose the wrong one.

Now that Toshiba has stopped making the HD DVD formats and studios have stopped creating HD DVD formatted movies, the players are almost useless and Best Buy is recognizing this by offering a $50 store credit to all that purchased an HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008. Some will automatically receive the checks from Best Buy, but if you don’t get it by May you can call them and request it at 1-888-BEST-BUY.

You no longer have to skulk in dark corners and whisper the secret password in order to trade in your HD-DVD for Blu-Ray. According to the AP, the electronics retailer is officially launching the promotion. Circuit City will be accepting returns of HD DVD players within 90 days of purchase, with a proof of purchase receipt.

Customers can receive store credit or use it toward the price of a Blu-Ray player. Circuit City will definitely be scoring some customer goodwill points with this promotion. Great move. Now, all you HD-DVD buyers have to do is find someone to buy your movies.

According to electronichouse, Circuit City has a secret they’re trying to keep on the down low. It’s a trade-in program where you can trade your HD-DVD player for a Blu-Ray player.

Apparently, Circuity City is not promoting it publicly, but if you ask, they will apply the refund toward a new Blu-ray player, but your original HD-DVD purchase has to be within 3 months. Yes, it’s only the hardware. You’re stuck with the movies. Maybe service really is state of the art. You better get to your local CC before they change their minds.

You can’t have a good format war without some fallout. With the fall of HD-DVD, the question has been raised regarding Netflix’s ability to sustain its subscribers and demands for the Blu-Ray Format. Netflix said today that its subscriber count will be 3% higher than forecast because of price increases from Blockbuster and cheaper online advertising rates. Of course, the raise in price led to a loss of thousands of subscribers for Blockbuster, many of them switching or even returning to Netflix.

We knew it would happen sometime soon and yesterday Microsoft officially discontinued the production of the HD DVD player add-on for the Xbox 360 game console. If you’re one of the estimated 300,000 folks that already own the player Microsoft said they will still continue to support it and uphold the warranty that came with it, but they won’t be selling any new ones. Now that all of the big studios have gone Blu-ray it’s unlikely you’ll be wearing it out anyway without any new movies to play on it.

Microsoft says it doesn’t feel that dumping the HD DVD format will affect its game console sales, but we’re thinking that adding a Blu-ray player like the PS3 has just might help. Microsoft was previously one of the major backers of Toshiba and the HD DVD format before Warner announced they were Blu-ray exclusive and the whole HD DVD camp came tumbling down shortly after.

Paramount was the last of the big Hollywood studios to officially make the move to Blu-ray, announcing on Wednesday that they are pleased with the industry finally picking a single format with the consumer in mind. Paramount did not elaborate much on the announcement but by doing so removed all doubt that HD DVD has met its demise.

The announcement came a day after Toshiba’s Tuesday announcement of the end of HD DVD and the end of manufacturing by the end of March. All six studios working with a single format reduces consumer confusion and will likely bring more sales of media and players than retailers would see by trying to push two different formats.

According to a company source at Toshiba, the company is in the “final stages” of giving up the battle in the next generation DVD format war against Sony’s Blu-ray. After years of fighting it out and causing confusion among consumers over which format to purchase it looks like Blu-ray is actually going to come out on top, and HD DVD will go the way of the Betamax.

The most significant move that seemed to cause this battle to take a turn in Sony’s favor happened when Warner Bros. Entertainment announced they would only release movies in the Blu-ray format. The companies plan was to end consumer confusion allowing them to make a decision and subsequent purchases of one format or the other, in this case Blu-ray.

Here’s another huge blow that the struggling HD-DVD format did not need. Netflix, the online and mail video rental giant will follow its rival Blockbuster’s footsteps and carry Blu-Ray exclusively. With endorsement to The future is Blu campaign, the company will now only buy Blu-Ray discs going forward and will phase out their stock of HD-DVD by the end of the year.

“We’re now at the point where the industry can pursue the migration to a single format, bring clarity to the consumer and accelerate the adoption of high-def.”, said a company spokesman. Netflix stated that they expect all studios to begin to publish movies on the Blu-ray format. With Netflix’s over seven million subscribers, I think it’s fair to say that this is a killing blow in the format war, whether the effects are immediate or forthcoming.

Microsoft has officially given the Xbox 360 HD DVD player a price slashing by $50. This brings the player down to $129 from the $179 price tag that it got last July.

The player still comes with the 5 free HD DVD movie offer that it had before along with a copy of King Kong, but it we also feel it comes with the distinct stigma of a dying technology being run out by Blu-ray. We wouldn’t be surprised to see prices lower than even $129 once it hits some of the major retailers.

Just earlier this week Warner Bros. Entertainment, the studio with the industries largest selection of movies, changed the tide in the high definition format war in favor of Sony by announcing that they are going with Blu-ray discs exclusively. Warner’s intention was to end the battle and consumer confusion hopefully resulting in improved DVD sales in 2008. It appears their move just might be working as Variety states they have confirmed information that Universal, who previously has been HD DVD-exclusive, has ended their promise to continue with HD DVD only and could possibly be making a change to Blu-ray.

Paramount along with Universal are two of the big seven studios that have been hanging on with Toshiba and HD DVD, but they too have a clause to produce Blu-ray as well after Warner’s decision. Back in June of 2007 Blockbuster also made a move to Blu-ray over HD DVD which combined with recent news is making things look very grim for the HD DVD future.

Microsoft made an announcement today at Comic-Con International that they will be cutting the price of not the Xbox 360 itself, but the Xbox 360 HD DVD player. Effective August 1 the HD DVD player price will drop by $20 from $199 to $179. In additional to the $20 reduction Microsoft will be extended the “Perfect Offer” from Toshiba, the maker of the HD DVD player, which gives a mail-in offer for five free HD DVD movies.

Microsoft had a couple of other related announcements regarding the launch of “300″ and “Heroes: Season 1″, both on HD DVD. “300″ will be available on-demand through the Xbox Live Marketplace on August 14th and the Heroes pilot episode along with other promotional footage will also be available for download through the marketplace.